Metal News for March 31, 2009

We post metal news every day, throughout the day, covering thousands of metal bands including underground and unsigned bands. You are currently browsing the news archive, but you can also find news by band.

James Farwell of Vancouver-based Bison b.c. has posted the following message:

"hey buds... we need to rent a trailer for our next tour... if you have one you are not using, lets talk... if you know us, you know how much gear we have... if not, lets talk anyway. we will pay top dollar, we want to avoid uhaul at all costs.... thank you people."

There are two dogs and two f-bombs for shock benefit in the first minute, not exactly Prince of Darkness nor comedy material. Ozzy is standing in front of the stage yet Sharon must announce “Ozzy is here” to the audience.. I believe this was for Ozzy’s benefit and apparently needs to be reminded every five minutes. More...

Chicago based hard rockers Disturbed has posted their new music video online for the song, "The Night." You can check it out below. The song is the third to be released as a video from the bands latest album, "Indestructible" following the title track and "Inside The Fire." More...

New Jersey metal group God Forbid has confirmed that guitarist Dallas Coyle has left the band. They also announced that former Darkest Hour guitarist Kris Norris will be his replacement. A message from band member Doc Coyle reads:

"There have been a barrage of rumors and questions on whether or not Dallas has left God Forbid. It's true that Dallas has left the band. It's taken us a few days to confirm this definitely, and figure out what we were going to do considering the fact that we are starting a very important tour with LAMB OF GOD this week.

"I don't want to go into the hairy details, but all I can say is that there was a mutual disagreement between Dallas and I, and the disagreement became angry on both sides, and he decided to sit out the tour the day we were supposed to leave. We later learned he did not want to tour anymore at all. Everyone in the band, including myself was upset and shocked. For me, it's a lot tougher because he's my brother and I have a very close bond with him. We've done everything together our whole lives, so it's difficult to deal with emotionally but I understand he has bigger responsibilities at home to care for. I wish he would've handled it in a different way, but I am not angry at him for leaving if he is unhappy with our situation. I really hope he finds success and happiness in his future pursuits.

"In the meantime, we've recruited ex-Darkest Hour shredder, Kris Norris, to fill in for the tour. We are currently doing a few warm up shows as a four-piece to meet the LOG tour in Phoenix, AZ on April 2nd. Kris will be there for the start of the LOG tour though. I've been friends with Kris for years, and have an immense amount of respect for his playing. I look forward to playing with him, and I'm sure he will knock it out the park! Byron and I will pick up the slack with the vocals as much as we can. Thanks for everyone's continued support, and we'll see you on the road!"

Behemoth has tapped Colin Richardson (Machine Head, Slipknot, Napalm Death, Carcass) to mix their new, as of yet untitled album due out late summer 2009. The CD is now being recorded in Radio Gdansk in Poland.

Behemoth's main man Nergal said in the press release: “I’m beyond excited about this new album. It’s not just the finest piece of music we’ve ever made, but it’s also the most mature tunes we’ve created without compromising our sound. I’m stoked about Colin Richardson involvement in the mix of the record. We’ve tried to book him for our last album The Apostasy, but due to busy schedule he wasn’t available then. He’s name needs no introduction. I have absolutely no doubts that Colin will deliver and I’m expecting new album to have the sound that’s bigger than life!”

Commented Colin: “Nergal has sent me three songs which are guitars/bass/drums live from the rehearsal room and the material sounds fantastic already. I am really looking forward to mixing this album. It’s going to be great mixing an extreme heavy band again, especially as it’s the mighty Behemoth.”

Norwegian death metal band Blood Red Throne has posted a new video online of the upcoming studio album "Souls of Damnation," which can be viewed below. The album is due to be released by Earache Records on June 1st in Europe and June 30th in the USA. More...

Hardcore metal group Hatebreed has announced their plans to help promote their upcoming new covers album, "For The Lions." The band will be releasing five singles from the record in April, with the album seeing a May 5th release date. The first single, a cover of the Black Flag song, "Thirsty And Miserable" is now available to purchase with the following songs confirmed as future singles:

Death metal legends Obituary have finished their tour of Europe alongside Amon Amarth, Legion Of The Damned and Keep Of Kalessin. The tour report reads as follows:

"We really want to thank all the fans for coming out this tour and showing us so much support! This has been a great time for all of us and we owe it all to you! We also want to thank the guys in AMON AMARTH, LEGION OF THE DAMNED and KEEP OF KALESSIN! Three great bands that it was a pleasure touring with and I hope you all keep in touch. Lastly, all the crew guys that worked so hard to keep everything going smoothly, we appreciate all of you, especially Peter, who we could not do without!

"I made it home last night and will here for a while for a much needed break. After recording 2 albums (one Obituary and one Tardy Brothers) and this European tour, I am ready for a break! We have some US shows set up and some European Summer Festivals we will be doing so I will get you all caught up on that soon!

"Thanks again to all of you and feel free to email me at fans@obituary.cc anytime! If any of you have some tour photos for the website I will put them up!"

LA's WARBRINGER has completed work on their sophomore effort, entitled "Waking Into Nightmares," with producer Gary Holt (Exodus) with mixing duties being handled by Zack Ohren (Suffocation, All Shall Perish). The artwork for "Waking Into Nightmares," was created by Dan Seagrave (Morbid Angel, Entombed).

Warbringer has also announced an exclusive pre-order package that will be available with the band on the road: anyone who preorders "Waking Into Nightmares" from their merch table will be handed a strictly limited edition, hand-numbered 2-song single with exclusive advance mixes of the songs "Severed Reality" and "Prey for Death" from the new album. "Waking Into Nightmares" will be released on May 19 via Century Media Records. More...

Swedish label ViciSolum Productions has announced the signing of two new bands: Los Sin Nombre, from Linköping, Sweden and Swedish death metal band SYN:DROM from Sundsvall. Both bands are currently working on albums due to be released in the fall 2009. You can check them out here and here.

Nashville Pussy recently experienced some drama on their tour bus in Europe. A tour diary from guitarist Ruyter Suys reads as follows: "Okay!! Day motherfucking one! Yee haw! Back in Europe, back in France!! Kick ass show in Strasbourg. Stellar audience! The Supersuckers rock, but have to cut their set short so Dan Bolton can go back to the airport to go through customs to get his luggage that the airline has lost. You would think the rock gods had their fun? No! We fall asleep on the bus to the whiskey laden dreams that is our vocation only to be awoken to the tune of 'FIRE!!! Everyone grab your passports and get off the bus!' We follow suit. Stood on the side of the road, somewhere between France and Switzerland watching the billows of smoke churn out the rear end of our fancy new bus. Luckily there was no actual flames, but enough smoking to cause us to stop tout de suit!

"A tourist bus full of children stopped for our sorry asses and kindly decided to drive us as far as the Swiss border where now, we wait. For what? We don't really know. A new bus has been dispached to transport our gear and hopefully pick us up as well, untill then Nashville Pussy has taken up residence at the French/Swiss border and will be sleeping on the curb until we are admited into the country, with guitars and vehicle. We remain, rocking, though mostly in spirit. A slightly smoke scented spirit, but rocking none the less! Excelsior! More...

Rumours are beginning to surface that God Forbid guitarist Dallas Coyle has resigned from the band and that God Forbid will continue as a four piece. The guitarist will not be taking part in the band's upcoming tour with Staright Line Stitch and no reason has been given so far. Stay tuned for more details.

Michael VanDyne, one of founding members of metal group Arsis, has revealed that he has rejoined the band on a full time basis. In a statement regarding the reunion, he said:

"I’m looking forward to working with my friend Jim again, as well as the great people at Nuclear Blast. Judging by the new material that [guitarist/singer] Jim [Malone] and [guitarist] Nick [Cordle] have been working on, I think we may be sitting on some of the most memorable and thrashy Arsis material written to date. Due to obligations with my full-time career, session drummers will most likely be utilized for big tours that Jim wishes to do in the future… However, regional shows and occasional mini-tours or festival gigs either here in North America or overseas are a definite possibility (and something I’d be totally psyched to do) if our collective schedules allow it. Good times."

Velvet Revolver/former Guns N Roses guitarist Slash entered the studio last week to record his debut solo album. A message from the guitarist reads as follows: "Hey, how is everybody?

"I start recording my solo CD today (on March 25th), Josh Freese on drums and Chris Chaney on bass, with Eric Valentine producing. I know you're saying 'didn't Josh play with Axl's Guns N' Roses?!' He did in the 90's for a while but left after a couple years, so I don't know if it counts much. Besides, that doesn't undermine that he is an amazing drummer.

"I've been reading your messages and there is a handful of questions that a lot of you have in common. One question that a lot of you want to know is, who is singing on this record, but unfortunately, I can't divulge that info yet, but you'll know soon enough. I will say however, that they are fantastically talented songwriters who its been an honor to work and write with, to say the least. More...

Gene Simmons, the legendary bass player/vocalist of KISS, recently spoke with Brazilian news site Comércio do Jahu about the bands new studio album and South American tour. He stated:

"Yes, we will launch an album with 12 or 15 unpublished songs. We already recorded vocals and guitars for four of them. We will finish up the album in July and launch it in September. I can say the sound will be like a sort of a new "Rock-n'-roll over", mid-seventies sound, fast and heavy. There will be no rap, no country music. It is difficult to define music, but if you keep in mind that definition, you will understand very well what we are talking about. It's the classic KISS sound."

Now defunct industrial metal legends Ministry has announced that they will be releasing a double DVD in May entitled, "Adios...Puta Madres" to accompany their new live album of the same name which is released tomorrow in North America. The first disc will feature fifteen live performances and the second will feature a documentary about the bands final tour which includes interviews, backstage footage and more. The DVD will be released in North America on May 26th and on May 22nd in Europe.

New Jersey based thrash metal legends Overkill has announced that they will be entering the studio in August to record a brand new studio album which should be released at the end of this year. The album is to mark the 25th anniversary of the bands first release, "Feel The Fire" and the band will be enlisting the services of Peter Tagtgren. In addition to this, they have confirmed that they will be performing at this years Rocklahoma event.

Earlier in the year Metal Underground presented its annual “Best Of” awards and with his finger always on the pulse, deathbringer mentioned a new dominance in metal leading us into 2009. Maybe you’ve noticed the extra acoustic interludes, the blazing shred solos, the disjointed poly-rhythms or maybe you haven’t - but either way a cloud of progressive influence has undoubtedly emerged over the metal scene. Not just in our minds here at MU, but in the minds of fans Opeth, Cynic, Meshuggah, Nachtmystium and Ihsahn stood out with impressive 2008 releases. Even more excitement and interest has been generated by collaborations between Ihsahn and Opeth, and 2009 hasn’t let up with Mastodon’s progressive opus “Crack The Skye” and Obscura’s “Cosmogenesis” leading the charge.

So what magic is at work here aside from great prog-metal releases? Larger bands such as the explosive power metal act DragonForce and progressive groovers Mastodon have played a large part in the uprising of the pursuit of extreme talent for more mainstream metal fans - opening legions of otherwise clueless greenhorns to the bar of instrumental ability. Old hands such as Deicide, Cannibal Corpse and numerous thrash acts have also not been untouched by the progressive aura and have regained the thirst for pushing technical boundaries - a truly founding ideal of metal if ever there was one. Another force at play here is the power the internet has had in exposing technical freak shows like Necrophagist as well as many young tech-metal heads being introduced to metal and fostered through 90s progressive acts such as Tool or Dream Theater. Not enough for you? Let’s take a little trip back in time then. More...

Pennsylvania based band Zao has announced that their new album "Awake?" will be released on 5/5/2009 via Ferret Music. The band is currently streaming a new track from the album titled "What Will You Find?" on their MySpace page.

New Orleans band Down has issued the following announcement about planning to release a documentary and record a new album:

"Hello all you killer lovers of the riff, it's been a while since we spoke.

"Down's been offered a great amount of festivals all over Europe this summer, so here we come! We also have a couple of dates on our own with the mighty St Vitus!!!

"We're in the final stages of the documentary and it should be out soon.

"After the European festivals, we're planning one more run of select markets in the states from August to September. Then we are headed back to the studio for October through December to record what will eventually become Down IV.